Cricket: International Discussion Thread

[WaxLyrical]

you mean England declare to lose the match ?

My bad.
Didn't see NZ declared.

 

[Creag]

England 58 & 320 (126.1 overs)
New Zealand 427/8d

New Zealand won by an innings and 49 runs

Well done to the Black Caps. Considering how much time was lost to weather, the result is a really good team effort.

 

[Agent_Smith]

Good stuff NZ!

 

[WaxLyrical]

Ali and Woakes dropped.

Ali debut in mid 2014 and already up to 50 tests. I find it quite unusual that the English are gifted with so many matches compared to everyone else.

 

[Wall]

Ali and Woakes dropped.

Ali debut in mid 2014 and already up to 50 tests. I find it quite unusual that the English are gifted with so many matches compared to everyone else.

yep, one only needs to Look at Philander. Debut in 2011 and only has 52 tests.

 

[DanDango]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...lands-schedule-a-harbinger-of-what-is-to-come

Four Tests in 18 months: New Zealand’s schedule a harbinger of what is to come

Meet New Zealand, the ghost Test cricket team. From March 2017 to October 2018, the side will play a paltry four Tests in 18 months. In the same period Joe Root, one of Kane Williamson’s biggest rivals for the mantle of the best Test batsman in the world, will play 21 Tests for England.

Understandably, senior players are privately bemoaning the paucity of five-day action. The little Test cricket that is being played is also being pushed to the margins of early December and the end of March, a soft flatbread to the 13 ODIs and 10 T20s that fill the meaty chunk of New Zealand’s summer.

In part this is all a quirk, more a reflection of irregularities in cricket’s playing schedule – unusually, New Zealand didn’t have a Test tour last winter – than any grand design. Yet really New Zealand’s summer fixture list is best understood as a glimpse of the future – not just for the country, but for the wider cricketing world.

This summer, New Zealand Cricket chose to scrap one Test against the West Indies, previously designated to be a three-match series. “It’s fair to say that hosting a Test match in New Zealand before Christmas is financially a challenge,” says David White, the organisation’s chief executive. It is a window into the economic obstacles to playing Test matches. For home boards, most Tests make a net loss of over US$500,000 – particularly significant given the sport’s lack of equitable revenue sharing. New Zealand Cricket’s annual revenue is US$35m; Cricket Australia’s is US$270m, almost eight times as much. For countries like New Zealand – really, all bar Australia, England and India, the sport’s economic Big Three – financial realities militate against staging more Tests.

And so New Zealand’s summer schedule is a harbinger of what is to come. White envisages that future summers will involve two tourists, each playing two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is. “Two-three-three times two is our model,” he says. During New Zealand’s run of seven Test series unbeaten from 2013-15, coach Mike Hesson said his side had “earned the right” to play longer Test series. Now it is conceivable that they might not play a three-match Test series, let alone anything longer, ever again.

The same is true for other nations, too. The ICC is close to agreeing new leagues in Test and ODI cricket, beginning in 2019, introducing clear consequences – reaching the World Test final, or automatic World Cup qualification – that tours currently lack. Under the plans, series would ordinarily consist of two Test matches – though boards would be free to play additional games, meaning that the Ashes could remain a five-match series – and three ODIs. This being cricket, the nine teams in the Test league would only play six opponents over two years – three at home and three away – because of the overcrowded schedule and India’s unwillingness to pay Pakistan. New Zealand would only be guaranteed an average of six Tests a year, although White says that the board will endeavour to play around eight a year.

The new Test schedule reflects the format’s challenge to be commercially sustainable. Other things being equal, at the start of the decade broadcasters apportioned a worth of three points to each Tests, two to each ODI, and 0.75 to each T20 international. Today, each T20I is worth three points, ODIs are still worth two points – but Tests only one. All the while, domestic T20 club competitions are thriving. This month, broadcasting rights to the Indian Premier League were sold for four times the annual amount of the current contract for India’s home internationals: a seminal moment in cricket tilting from being a nation v nation game to more of a club v club sport.

So the international game, especially Test and ODI cricket, risks being cannibalised by T20 leagues. White believes the belated introduction of international leagues will make fans more inclined to watch, including games between other countries which will affect their position in the table. “If you’ve got context and narrative around all fixtures it’s going to add commercial value. There’s no question about that.” Heath Mills, chief executive of the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association, says that, “We will likely end up playing less Test cricket” but “by playing less it could well become more valuable”

 

[AirWolf]

The beginning of the end...

 

[DanDango]

https://thewest.com.au/sport/cricke...ren-lehmann-as-australian-coach-ng-b88810537z

The Cricket Australia board will meet on Friday to ratify the process that is set to see Justin Langer appointed as the next Australian coach.

Langer is poised to replace Darren Lehmann who quit in the wake of the Cape Town ball-tampering fiasco last month.

A Cricket Australia spokesman said an appointment was likely to be made by the start of next month.

 

[Cray]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...lands-schedule-a-harbinger-of-what-is-to-come

Four Tests in 18 months: New Zealand’s schedule a harbinger of what is to come

That's a shocker...

 

[Cray]

https://mg.co.za/article/2018-04-20-rabada-hits-the-endorsement-big-time

Rabada hits the endorsement big time

Kagiso Rabada, 22, has been unveiled as the latest sports personality to promote high-profile brand Tag Heuer.

The deal is a major achievement for the fast bowler as the brand is known for procuring only the elite of the sporting and arts world to don the time pieces in their promotions.

Tag Heuer...nice!

 

[3WA]

Kevin O'Brien on 99* in Ireland's first test.

 

[DanDango]

Kevin O'Brien on 99* in Ireland's first test.

Well played 100.

Ireland team looks weak:
William Porterfield (c), FC ave 30 (ok opener)
Ed Joyce, FC ave 48 great player but he is 39
Andrew Balbirnie, FC ave 32 but score all his runs in weak Ireland local cricket.
Niall O Brien (wk), great county wk-batsman FC ave 35 but he is 35.
Paul Stirling, FC ave 28, score all his runs in county cricket.
Kevin O Brien, FC ave 37 good batsman handy bowler.
Gary Wilson, Derbyshire wicket wicket weeper FC ave 34
Stuart Thompson, don't know much about him
Tyrone Kane, don't know much about him
Tim Murtagh, 712 first class wicket at 26 bowls like Philander but he is 36
Boyd Rankin, good bowler 4-5 years ago played 1 test for England but very injury prone, almost 34.

 

[3WA]

Looks like what you'd expect of a team on debut. Hopefully most teams touring the UK fit in a match against them, they can only get better.

 

[DanDango]

Looks like what you'd expect of a team on debut. Hopefully most teams touring the UK fit in a match against them, they can only get better.

+1 for the tour. Ireland need to find bowlers can't play test cricket with only 2 bowlers. Afghanistan looks good, lots of talent coming through.

 

[Agent_Smith]

Well well well. Interesting post lunch session on the cards here (weather will probably have the final say though)

PAK 310/9 decl, 52/3 (17.0 Ovs) CRR: 3.06
Day 5: Lunch Break - Pakistan need 108 runs

 

[Kelerei]

Only Test, Pakistan tour of Ireland, England and Scotland at Dublin, May 11-15 2018

Test debut: EC Joyce, WTS Porterfield, A Balbirnie, NJ O'Brien, PR Stirling, KJ O'Brien, GC Wilson, SR Thompson, TE Kane & TJ Murtagh (Ireland), Imam-ul-Haq & Faheem Ashraf (Pakistan)

Pakistan 310-9 dec (96.0 overs, Faheem Ashraf 83, Asad Shafiq 62, TJ Murtagh 4-45, SR Thompson 3-62) & 160-5 (45.0 overs, Imam-ul-Haq 74*, Babar Azam 59)
Ireland 130 (47.2 overs, KJ O'Brien 40, Mohammad Abbas 4-44, Shadab Khan 3-31) & 339 f/o (129.3 overs, KJ O'Brien 118, SR Thompson 53, Mohammad Abbas 5-66, Mohammad Amir 3-63)

Pakistan won by 5 wickets
Series result: Pakistan won the one-off match

Player of the match: KJ O'Brien (Ireland)

 

[Agent_Smith]

At the end it looked fairly easy, but I'm sure that at 3 down for not a lot on the board, there would've been a few squeaky bums in the Pakistan dressing room. Kudos to Ireland for making such a fist of it in the second dig. I suspect we'll see loads of hammerings coming their way over the next couple of years, but Bangladesh have shown that with perseverance and a good feeder system, they can compete.

 

[WaxLyrical]

The eventual demise of test cricket will start with matches being played by only the top 4, as revenue dictates that it does.

 

[Agent_Smith]

Pakistan all over England on the first day at Lords. England 173/7 after 55 overs. Not sure what happened at the toss

 

[Agent_Smith]

184 all out after winning the toss and batting first.